


When We Were Young

by raendown



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, same age au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-03 02:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12739029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: Growing up together means changing together and Kakashi has always seen her from afar.





	When We Were Young

i.

She was soft and too pink and Kakashi hated her. How was he ever meant to become a great ninja and erase the stain of his father’s name if he couldn’t even be paired with decent teammates? He’d thought since Obito and Rin were both sick his temporary team might be better, might have stronger members that would help him grow instead of hold him back like usual. This was _not_ what he had expected.

As if the rambunctious blonde who failed to catch him in a poorly concealed trap when he arrived wasn’t enough, the idiot pink-haired girl moping off to one side was a whole different story of terrible. Upon discovering that he would be standing in for “Sasuke-kun” today she had all but folded in half with disappointment and the already incorrect grip she had on her kunai had fallen out of place even more. Kakashi sniffed in her direction, thoroughly disappointed. These two were barely ninjas and would probably never make it past genin. Was the blond one really Sensei’s son?

For the entire day of training under the strangely emotionless Sai-sensei, all that Haruno Sakura did was compare him to her precious Sasuke-kun. She spoke of the boy constantly and told Kakashi how in love she was three times in just the first hour. By the end he was ready to stab both her and the poor idiot who obviously didn’t like her back.

And why should he? There was nothing to like; there was no substance to her. Sakura’s feet stood for Sasuke, her arms lifted for Sasuke, her heart beat for Sasuke. There was not a single part of her that fought for her own sake and Kakashi couldn’t stand the weakness of it. Didn’t she realize that love would break her? He would have pitied her if he could be bothered with the emotion but it was much easier to dismiss all three of these useless people from his mind.

When Kakashi left training he left his thoughts of Sakura behind him. He went back to Obito and Rin, still just as useless but at least a kind of useless he could work with. He went back to Minato-sensei, the strongest shinobi he had ever met who he just _knew_ would cave and teach him the hiraishin one of these days. If he didn’t then Kakashi would just have to learn how to be faster by himself.

 

ii.

He was broken when she found him and even if he didn’t know it then this was only the first time that she would put him back together. She led him back to the fading light with whispers of hope, of Obito surviving, of a surgery gone well. Kakashi felt like she was pulling his head above the water and giving him air to breathe when for a minute he’d forgotten how.

Later it would shame him that he’d forgotten her so quickly in the moment, although she always insisted that she didn’t blame him. He was only twelve and the only friend he’d never even realized he had was alive, alive, _alive_. Obito was breathing despite odds. His arm would never be the same again and his leg had been amputated but his heart was beating steadily as Kakashi collapsed across his chest and wept like he hadn’t since his father had been alive.

Only after the storm had passed and he sat wiping at his face in embarrassment did a very tired Rin murmur quietly that it was all thanks to Sakura-chan.

“She did what I couldn’t,” his teammate told him with a hitch in her breath. “You both did. I was no help; I never am. But you brought him home and Sakura-chan brought him back to life and I just stood there like a stupid lump!”

“You’re not useless, Rin.” She looked at him like she’s never seen him before and Kakashi found that somehow more embarrassing than crying in front of her. “It was my fault the both of you were in danger in the first place. Obito was brave. And so were you. Both of you are always…really brave.”

Brave for facing the emotions that he’d never been able to face before. What he had always seen as a weakness they used as a strength and that was something he admired. Minato-sensei had been trying to teach him for years the truth about teamwork but it had taken him until now to get it. A team was not built on the back of whoever was strongest. No, a team was built on the strength of all of its members, every person bringing a skill to the table to cover the weaknesses of others and create an impenetrable unit.

He found the one he was looking for slumped over and sleeping on a bench. Sakura was only twelve years old, just the same as he was, but she had assisted with a seven hour surgery after being awoken in the middle of the night and she must have been very tired. Instead of disturbing her, Kakashi sniffed out the closest linen closet and brought her a blanket. It settled over her like the peace settling in his chest, a feeling he wasn’t familiar with. Fitting, he thought. The whole world around him looked unfamiliar now.

“Thank you.” He left his words as a whisper in her ear before disappearing down the hallway back to Obito’s room, not bothering to check over his shoulder to see bright green eyes fluttering awake.

 

iii.

Obviously he heard about Tsunade. The whole village had heard about Tsunade. She was sort of hard to miss as she came marching down the streets of Konoha bellowing, “Bring me your prodigy!” as though she hadn’t abandoned the village years ago.

Kakashi didn’t find out the context for this until late that night, huddled behind the academy with Rin and Obito, trading sips from a can of red bean tea. That was when Rin told him with only the shadow of jealously in her voice that the Lady Tsunade had returned to Konoha to chase the rumors of a medical prodigy.

She was here to apprentice Haruno Sakura.

Turning this information over in his mind slowly, Kakashi contemplated what he should say to that. She deserved it, in his opinion. If not for her Obito wouldn’t be sitting beside him wearing a prosthetic leg, tired from a long day of physical therapy. On the other hand, she wasn’t who his loyalty was owed to.

“Well you’ll just have to show her that there are _two_ prodigies in the Leaf,” he said, carefully not looking over in Rin’s direction. “Lady Tsunade better be ready to have two apprentices.”

He dodged the hug and scowled at the hair ruffling. It was as easy as ever to turn Obito’s teasing comments in to light hearted bickering, the very foundation of their friendship which continued to this day no matter how much stronger their bonds had grown. Just because he was learning what it was to have friends didn’t mean he enjoyed being the center of attention any more than he used to. What mattered was that Rin was smiling again and looked more determined than ever and he hoped Sakura was prepared for a little competition.

 

iv.

She split the ground with her fist the first time he saw her in a battle and Kakashi felt his heart cracking along the fault lines, fluttering like a weak thing behind his ribs. It was hard to believe she was the same bubblegum girl he had hated on first sight and a part of him wondered if she still moved and breathed and fought for her Sasuke-kun. Joining ANBU had kept him from fighting with the regular forces – even Rin and Obito hadn’t been at his side in nearly a year now – so it was rather easy to see how he might have never seen Team 7 fight before.

It was also easy to see he’d been missing out.

Although it might have been an odd detail to latch on to, Kakashi couldn’t help but notice that she had cut her hair. The pink strands were sweat drenched and dirt stained; they clung to her face and neck in a manner that should not have been anywhere near as alluring as it was. He almost lost his footing, actually stopping to stare in awe, as she bent herself to the earth and tore it open with a roar that shook the spine inside him.

Stupidly, he mind couldn’t help repeating that old line he couldn’t remember the origin of: _she’s beauty, she’s grace, she’ll punch you in the face_.

Even more stupidly, for some reason he felt as though he wouldn’t mind if she punched _him_ in the face. He shook the feeling off by turning and sliding his kunai through an enemy’s throat. It was pure coincidence that his targets had happened upon a group of fellow Konoha shinobi just before Kakashi caught up to them, darting out of the shadows and in to the fray with nary a word to those already fighting. Sakura and her companions had grown so much since that day he dismissed them all as useless.

After the dust had settled and the only people standing bore the symbol of the Leaf, Sakura turned to him with a smile streaked in blood and eyes so bright he almost shielded his own.

“Thank you for your assistance, ANBU-san,” she called. “You fight pretty good.”

He was forever thankful that his double masks neatly covered the blush rising on his cheeks as he slipped back in to the shadows without a word. The Uchiha, whom he presumed was the fabled Sasuke-kun, watched him go with a single eyebrow raised. He looked a lot like Itachi, although the same could be said of everyone in their clan.

Kakashi made sure to casually mention the encounter to Minato-sensei later when he made his report in the Hokage’s office. He watched his old teacher swell up with pride that his son’s team had made such a good impression on one of his best, asking eagerly what Kakashi thought of them. Before he could stop himself the words seemed almost to fall from his lips like a cart running out of control.

“I think she’s beautiful.”

Minato-sensei laughed until his belly must have hurt. Kakashi smacked his shoulder and left without being dismissed.

 

v.

“Do you still live for someone else?”

Probably it was a weird question to ask someone when their hands were wrist deep inside your abdomen and their chakra was the only thing stopping you from bleeding out. Kakashi had never been too concerned with social norms, though.

Instead of answering Sakura gave him a desperate wild look as she screamed over her shoulder for someone to signal the Hokage. He knew what that meant. They wouldn’t be able to transport him back in time. Minato-sensei’s teleportation was their only hope of keeping him alive. Maybe that should have bothered him more but when Kakashi was twelve he had seen this girl perform a miracle and if ever there was someone who’s hands he trusted it was her.

“S-Sakura.” His voice was small and wet. How strange. “Sakura do you…still live for someone else?”

For some reason it felt important that she answer. It wasn’t as though her answer would matter, in this life or the next. There was no way for her to know that the shadows watched her sometimes as she laughed at the bar with her friends. There was no way for her to know that the flowers that sometimes showed up on her doorstep came from his hand. There was no way she knew how hard he had fallen for a girl who felt so strongly and yelled so loudly that it shook away the darkness in him until all he knew was the light she gave off so freely.

“Don’t speak, ANBU-san,” she admonished him. Her brow creased in concentration as she forced more chakra in to his belly. Kakashi barely paid attention to the arching of his spine or the way blood bubbled up between his lips.

“You…lived for him. You breathed and broke and fought for him.” Breathing was more difficult than it should have been. “You shouldn’t.” When she looked down at him he prayed she couldn’t see through the holes in his mask or the cracks in his soul. “You are…enough on your own. No one should own who you are.”

He didn’t get to see Minato-sensei arrive. Too soon his vision faded and Kakashi spared a thought for Rin and for Obito, hoping they wouldn’t take this too hard. Better friends he could never have asked for. He owed them so much but he was certain both of them knew what they meant to him. No ghosts came with him when he felt the world fade to black around him.

 

vi.

“You’re stupid,” were the first words he heard upon regaining consciousness.

“I hear that a lot,” he croaked, “though never in regards to my actual intelligence. What have I done now?”

Only after he spoke did he crack his eyes open, immediately closing them again. His hospital bed – and he was obviously in a hospital bed – was set directly underneath the harsh halogen lights. A quick jerking tug sent his bed skittering to one side with a terrible squealing noise, obviously not the sound of a bed on wheels, and that answered the unspoken question of who had just called him an idiot before he was fully conscious.

“Hello Haruno-san,” he murmured, opening his eyes again now that he was out of the light’s path.

“Don’t you _Haruno-san_ me you stalker creep.”

Despite her words she sounded more amused that anything else. That was the only thing that gave Kakashi the courage to roll his eyes to the side and take her in, knowing that if he moved his head a headache would start up. She looked as good in her medic’s uniform as she always did. Her hair, recently trimmed, was held back with a few cute little pins. On her face she wore an expression he’d seen too often on Rin, a mixture of irritation, exasperation, and fondness. He was more surprised than usual to see the fondness.

“Uhm…”

“If you wanted to ask me out you would have been better served using words instead of waiting around outside the hospital every morning.”

“You…saw that?”

“No but Rin-chan and I _chat_. Girls do that, you see. She’s been an absolute gold mine of interesting tidbits while you were sleeping.”

“Note to self: murder Rin.”

“Don’t you dare! We made a bet and I’m going to win; I won’t let you make me lose, you hear!”

“A bet?” Doing his best to ignore the way his head immediately began to pound, Kakashi turned to look at her in curiosity. “What kind of bet?”

Sakura waved one hand through the air casually. “Oh just a little thing. If I confront you and get a date then she has to go confront Obito and get a date out of him too.”

Kakashi stared. Swallowed. Shifted in his bed. Stared some more.

There was no porcelain mask to hide the blush this time and it was doubly embarrassing for her to see the line of red that crept overtop the small paper one some nurse had stretched over his mouth. Unless it had been _her_ that put it on him. Had she been a part of his surgery? Had she _peeked_?

Putting that small panic-inducing thought aside for later, Kakashi had to clear his throat twice before he could string enough words together to respond to his long-time crush.

“Well. I’ve been telling those two to get their heads out of their asses for ages now. Who am I to turn down such an opportunity for them?” He smiled shakily when Sakura snorted.

“For them. Of course.”

“That’s me, the dutiful friend.”

“I hope you make as dutiful a date, Hatake Kakashi.” Sakura’s hand brushed his rather deliberately as she stood and made for the door. “Rumor says you have a habit of being as late for everything as Obito is. If you’re late for our first date I’ll remove your teeth for you.”

She was pink and only soft if you weren’t looking at her muscles – and Kakashi was so in love.


End file.
